Category Archives: Things to Do in Las Vegas

Sinna recently celebrated a birthday, and decided to invite some friends to join him in Las Vegas for the festivities.

Lots of people have done that. But Gabe Sinna isn’t everybody.

After months of planning, Sinna created an ingenious game for his friends to play, inspired by the hit travel competition on CBS, “The Amazing Race.” And his game has raised the bar for Las Vegas scavenger hunts forever.

Trust us, the word “amazing” isn’t used lightly here.

See, just about everyone has a friend who’s a planner. But Gabe Sinna is more than that. He’s a savant. He’s a genius. He’s a freak.

And we’re not just saying that because Sinna dove deeply into the recesses of this very Las Vegas blog for nuggets to inform his “Amazing Gabe” race.

Gabe and the better half of the teams competing in the “Amazing Gabe” race.

While Sinna orchestrated an entire Las Vegas trip for his friends, we tagged along on the part that featured downtown. Not only do we work downtown (in marketing at Fremont Street Experience), the area is home to some of our favorite places in Las Vegas.

Sinna did extensive research about downtown before creating his race, then built his “race” using elements of “The Amazing Race,” including “Detours” and “Roadblocks.” He even used artwork inspired by the show. Told you he’s a freak.

This is the photo caption where we don’t mention how much free time Gabe clearly has.

At the beginning of each leg of the race, Sinna distributed clues (“Route Info.”) and his friends, all couples, got to explore downtown in a fun, unique way.

It should be noted Sinna’s friends are also sort of freaks, as they made matching T-shirts with Sinna’s face on them for each team.

The “Amazing Gabe” race included a carefully-curated list of things to do downtown:

Take a photo with the gold nugget replica at Golden Nugget

Get a pic with a million bucks at Binion’s

Try a scorpion shot at Nacho Daddy

Visit Banger Brewing

Ride the SlotZilla zipline

Visit Golden Gate

Rub Buddha’s belly at The Cal

See the Berlin Wall at Main Street Station

Ride the Downtown Loop to the Gold & Silver Pawn shop

Take in the Neon Museum

Grab a dog at American Coney Island at The D

The downtown race culminated at Pizza Rock, of course. Did we not mention Sinna reads this blog?

Gabe Sinna’s friends are apparently fellow Las Vegas aficionados, because they navigated his clues with relative ease. (It was determined later the Internet may have made some of the clues too easy to solve. Thanks a lot, blogs!)

Everyone got to express their feelings about Communism at the Berlin Wall display inside the restroom at Main Street Station.

While we love Las Vegas a lot, we bow before the love Gabe Sinna clearly has for this town. Seriously. His name even has “sin” in it.

Thanks to Gabe for letting us tag along on several legs of the “Amazing Gabe” race! We were truly impressed with his knowledge of Vegas, as well as his organizational ability, as it’s well-known we are personally bereft of the planning gene.

We are not a heights person, but for some, winning prevails over woozy.

If you’ve done anything even remotely as creative as Gabe for a Las Vegas visit, we’d love to hear about it. We won’t hold our breath.

The arena project was announced back in May 2016, but is only now picking up steam.

According to a story in USA Today, the MSG Sphere will boast some impressive audio technology developed by a German company, Holoplot. The technology is called “beamforming audio,” which sends sound via witchcraft rather than through speakers.

Here’s another look at Sphere.

Get used to your mouth being agape, it’s Las Vegas.

The Sphere’s exterior is a dome with 190,000 feet of LED lighting, which translates into about 36 miles of lights.

Inside the dome, guests will enjoy what amounts to a 360-degree IMAX experience, with about 180,000-square-feet (four acres) of high resolution video across the dome’s roof.

Translation: Holy crap.

Finally, a Las Vegas venue that can legitimately use the word “immersive.”

One of the best things about the MSG Sphere is its developers promise little to no sports will be hosted in the venue. Although, fights are a possibility. Hey, nobody’s perfect.

The unfortunately-named MSG Sphere arena (some people are intolerant, you know) will be located on Sands Ave., between Manhattan St. and Koval Lane.

You have no idea where that is, so here’s a photo we took. Let’s just say we used a very tall monopod and leave it at that.

The future home of some awesome.

The MSG Sphere breaks ground in 2018 and the new arena is expected to open in 2020.

It’s the Year of the Dog, and the Bellagio Conservatory has not only unveiled another wonderful seasonal display, but it’s also provided an opportunity for this blog to make a gratuitous sexual joke in our headline, so what’s not to love?

Behold, the Moon Gate. The slooping roof symbolizes the half moon of Chinese summers. Which would make an excellent porn name, all due respect.

Each year, Bellagio pulls out all the stops for Chinese New Year, mainly as a way to kiss up to
all the Asian gamblers who frequent the resort.

For the rest of us, Bellagio’s Chinese New Year display provides a sample the work of some of the most prolific and talented horticulturists in the world.

People born during the Year of the Dog are said to be honest, friendly, smart and likely to chew your favorite shoes.

As mentioned, this year’s display features 18 dogs, one of our favorite forms of life on Earth.

The star of the show is an 18-foot-tall Husky.

We aren’t entirely sure whether this is a Siberian or Alaskan Husky. We are a blog, not a dog whisperer.

Huskies are beautiful dogs, but are bred to run, so can’t be trusted off a leash and don’t particularly make good pets. They also like to chase small animals. They also aren’t obedient.
They also shed a lot. But, again, they sure are beautiful!

The Chinese New Year display at Bellagio has lots of other enchanting features, including 13
Chinese lanterns.

There are three main types of Chinese lanterns: Hanging, flying and floating. Which, coincidentally, are the three ways mobsters would be disposed of in the early days of Vegas.

It’s interesting to note that while 13 is considered in Western cultures, it’s actually good luck to the Chinese.

Also good luck in Chinese culture are Koi fish. They symbolize perseverance and abundance. And possibly sushi to some people. Let’s not dwell upon it.

Koi fish are also known as “swimming flowers.” These horticulturalists are smart AF.

The display has ding pots, too. We don’t know what they are, but we sort of like saying “ding pot.”

Ding pot. Ding pot. Ding pot.

The Chinese New Year display at Bellagio Conservatory will be open until Mar. 3, 2018. Next up is the spring exhibit, Mar. 10 to Jun. 2, 2018.

This is what happens when you have one more photo than photo captions.

The Bellagio Conservatory & Botanical Gardens remains one of the best free things to do in Las Vegas, so make sure to stop by and rub some bellies. Which is probably frowned upon, and
you’re likely to be wrestled to the ground and tossed out by security, but the stories you’ll tell when you get back home will make it all worthwhile.

A popular Las Vegas strip club, Sapphire, claims it will have the first robot strippers in the world during CES 2018.

CES is the Consumer Electronics Show, a convention that draws more than 170,000 attendees to Las Vegas. The event runs Jan. 9-13, 2018.

Insert viscosity joke here.

Sapphire says, “The fully animated electronic twins, #R2DoubleD and #TripleCPU have traveled all the way from London and are excited to make their Vegas debut at the ‘World’s Largest Gentlemen’s Club’ during CES 2018.”

As marketing gimmicks go, we’re a fan of this one!

Here’s a look at the robot exotic dancers in action.

Sapphire guests will have an opportunity to take photos with the robot strippers. They’ll also have the chance to be rejected by them, just as they’d be rebuffed by human strippers. Some things are universal.

There’s a fun new diversion on the Las Vegas Strip: “The Twilight Zone” mini golf has opened at Bally’s Las Vegas.

You remember “The Invaders,” right? Neither do we, but let’s not get bogged down in details.

The “Twilight Zone”-themed, family-friendly attraction comes from the folks at Monster Mini Golf, the company that created Kiss Monster Mini Golf at Rio Las Vegas.

This time, guests are treated to an indoor, glow-in-the-dark miniature golf course inspired by the classic TV show (wait for it), “The Twilight Zone.”

Mini golf is a throwback to a time when people talked to each other once in awhile.

While the vast majority of customers at “Twilight Zone” Mini Golf weren’t alive when the show aired, 1959 to 1964, it doesn’t require a knowledge of the show to enjoy the charming decor.

Those who do know the show will immediately recognize more than a dozen direct references to “Twilight Zone” episodes. Here’s a list of many of the episodes, because we occasionally visit attraction sober and manage to take notes, shocking as that may be.

“Talking Tina”

“Eye of the Beholder”

“The Hitch-Hiker”

“You Drive”

“Five Characters in Search of an Exit”

“The Invaders”

“Twenty Two”

“The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street”

“The Lonely”

“Nick of Time”

“Nightmare at 22,000 Feet”

“To Serve Man”

“And When the Sky was Opened”

Classics, all!

It’s creepy. It’s cool. It’s a damned good time on the cheap. Sort of like your sister.

The “Twilight Zone” Mini Golf venue takes up a whopping 10,000-square-feet of space and
is located next to the Real Bodies exhibit on the shopping concourse at Bally’s. It’s
between the food court and the casino. You’ll find it. Look for all the people on first
dates.

You can’t miss it, unless you’re tanked. In which case, the mini golf will be even more fun.

The attraction has to be one of the best values on The Strip, with 18 holes for just
$11.95.

Also in the venue are several lanes of miniature bowling. Again, great value. Five frames of bowling costs $3, 10 frames are just $5.

Approximately $300 less per hour than time spent at a blackjack table.

There’s also a small arcade, and most of the games are just a buck to play.

Also in the works are a gift shop, a special events room and a science fiction-themed wedding chapel.

We chatted with the founder of Monster Mini Golf, Christina Vitagliano, on our podcast, so take a listen.

This one’s from the “Nick of Time” episode which featured an embryonic William Shatner.

No, really. William Shatner.

Vitagliano claims Kiss Mini Golf at Rio is doing well despite a challenging location, so “Twilight Zone” Mini Golf is likely perform strongly. (Kiss Mini Golf relocated from Clearly, a lot of time and expense goes into these custom miniature golf courses, and the blacklight element makes them all the more enjoyable and offbeat.

There are photo ops galore during the course of play, all suitable for sharing in social media. Translation: Marketing gold.

Despite social media causing everything bad that happens in the world, it’s a great way to let people know how much fun you’re having in Vegas.

It’s the only bowling in the neighborhood, and mini golf is a timeless way to spend
some quality time with friends at a reasonable price.

The attraction is open daily from 10:00 a.m. to midnight.

Black (UV) lights reveal phosphors and have many uses, including detecting counterfeits. So, be real.

So, wash your balls (it’s the venue that’s family-friendly, not this blog), spit-shine
your putter (if you get our drift) and take a journey into another dimension, a
dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind (we totally made that up), at “The
Twilight Zone” by Monster Mini Golf at Bally’s resort.

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